21st Century Astronomy (sixth Edition)
6th Edition
ISBN: 9780393675504
Author: Laura Kay, Stacy Palen, George Blumenthal
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
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Question
Chapter 17, Problem 1QP
To determine
The reason why the interior of an evolved high-mass stars has layers like those of an onion.
Expert Solution & Answer
Answer to Problem 1QP
Options (c).
Explanation of Solution
High-mass stars are stars with masses greater than about eight times mass of the Sun. As a high-mass star evolves, it builds up a layered structure like that of an onion, with progressively more advanced stages of nuclear fusion found deeper and deeper within the star.
As the high-mass star leaves the main sequence, the core will begin to collapse and the carbon fusion will occur. Carbon fusion will produce more massive elements including oxygen, sodium, neon and magnesium. The star then will have a carbon fusing core surrounded by a helium-fusing shell surrounded by a hydrogen-fusing shell, which moves outward as fusion products accumulate in the core. When carbon is exhausted as a nuclear fuel at the center of the star, neon breaks down to oxygen and helium or fuses to magnesium; and when neon is exhausted, oxygen begins to fuse. Thus, the residue of one reaction becomes the fuel for the next as the star evolves a layered structure like that of onion.
Conclusion:
Since a high-mass star develops a layered structure as a result of the heavier atoms fuse closer to the center because the high pressure and temperature available there, option (c) is correct.
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Students have asked these similar questions
Which of the following statements is wrong?
A. A main-sequence star is cooler and brighter than it was as a protostar.
B. Carbon fusion occurs in high-mass stars but not in low-mass stars because the cores of low-mass stars never contain significant amounts of carbon.
C. when a main-sequence star exhausts its core hydrogen fuel supply, the core shrinks while the rest of the star expands.
D. After a supernova explosion, the remains of the stellar core will be either a neutron star or a black hole.
The chemical abundance of population I stars
a.
indicates that they were formed before the population II stars.
b.
indicates that the material they formed from had been enriched with material from supernovae.
c.
indicates that they contain very few heavy metals compared to halo stars.
d.
depends on the temperature of the star.
e.
depends on the mass of the star.
The theory that the collapse of a massive star’s iron core produces neutrinos was supported by
a.
the size and structure of the Crab nebula.
b.
laboratory measurements of the mass of the neutrino.
c.
the brightening of supernovae a few days after they are first visible.
d.
underground counts from solar neutrinos.
e.
the detection of neutrinos from the supernova of 1987.
Chapter 17 Solutions
21st Century Astronomy (sixth Edition)
Ch. 17.1 - Prob. 17.1CYUCh. 17.2 - Prob. 17.2CYUCh. 17.3 - Prob. 17.3CYUCh. 17.4 - Prob. 17.4CYUCh. 17 - Prob. 1QPCh. 17 - Prob. 2QPCh. 17 - Prob. 3QPCh. 17 - Prob. 4QPCh. 17 - Prob. 5QPCh. 17 - Prob. 6QP
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